Rooney sneers his way to red

As David Beckham can testify, Kim Milton Nielsen is not a referee to affront and Wayne Rooney found that to his cost last night after one teenage strop too many. Rooney has been a red card waiting to happen for an inordinate length of time and when it finally arrived, delivered by the same official who sent off Beckham in the 1998 World Cup, nobody can have been surprised that it emanated from the type of petulant outburst that has increasingly become Rooney's forte.

Sir Alex Ferguson, with depressing predictability, attempted to defend the indefensible but it is inconceivable that Rooney was spared the snake-lick of his manager's tongue over this flash of temper, one that put at risk all United's hard work last night. Tellingly, Ferguson did not look at his player as he trudged past the dug-out, still cursing under his breath and shaking his head in disgust.

Rooney was entitled to be aggrieved by the yellow card that Nielsen flourished in his direction after a theatrical 64th-minute tumble from the Villarreal centre-half Quique Alvarez, but his reaction can be described only as an act of stupidity. Again, everyone witnessed the sight of Rooney's face contorted in anger as he unleashed a stream of invective at the referee. Critically, Rooney also chose to applaud sarcastically and Nielsen promptly brought out the yellow card for the second time in 30 seconds. Even then, the 19-year-old wanted to prolong the argument before being ushered away.

"Wayne reacts to what he considers are injustices," said Ferguson. "He felt it was a wrongful booking but the fact is you can't applaud a referee like that. I thought it [the second yellow card] was for putting an arm on the referee but apparently not so he's given himself no chance whatsoever - not with that referee."

Sympathy will be in short supply given that it was only a week earlier that Rooney, in the words of one Northern Ireland player, "lost his head" playing for England and nearly came to blows with Beckham at half-time.

His petulance in Belfast rightly attracted condemnation and, yet again, the debate will rage about whether, for all his talent, he is becoming a liability. All this from a player who claimed three weeks ago that he had "matured".

"He's a young lad, 19 years old, we hope that, with maturity, these things will evaporate," said Ferguson. "The important thing is to retain his good points and eradicate all the bad ones, and that's our job."

The only positive for Ferguson was that Rooney's immaturity did not lead to United surrendering a hard-earned draw. Villarreal played with passion and determination but Ferguson's players matched them to see out a potentially treacherous 26-minute spell with a man fewer. Rooney should be indebted to his team-mates for defending so stoutly as well as being particularly grateful that Marcos Senna's 89th-minute shot skimmed off the crossbar via a slight deflection from Rio Ferdinand.

"We were getting in control of the game before the sending-off," said Ferguson. "The back four did terrifically well in the second half and we just about deserved a point."

It may not have the grandeur of the Bernabéu or the Camp Nou and, in terms of capacity, it is not even as spacious as the Riazor and the Mestalla, but Ferguson had been warned beforehand that, if Villarreal's fans were given any form of encouragement, their compact little stadium had some of the best acoustics in Spanish football. This was a landmark occasion in the modest story of a distinctly unfashionable club, based in a town where tile-making is the most productive form of industry and the population is smaller than that of Altrincham.

United succeeded in subduing the home fans and, having dissected Rooney's contribution, Ferguson was entitled to reflect on a job well done. He would have been troubled to see Gabriel Heinze leave the field after little more than half an hour, having landing awkwardly and damaged medial ligaments in his left knee, but Kieran Richardson deputised well and there was a solidity to their defence that bodes well given this was the beginning of a three-week period, possibly longer, in which Roy Keane's hamstring strain will necessitate his absence from the team.

Ferguson bridles at the suggestion that United without Keane is the same as a car without petrol, but he must also be acutely aware that finding a successor for the old warrior represents one of the greatest challenges of his remaining years in charge. Since reverting to a deeper role, Alan Smith has been neat and efficient but Ferguson is overly optimistic to believe a converted striker will suffice. Smith has yet to show he has the ability to dictate the pattern of a game and, though he did not descend to Rooney's level, he was also booked for dissent.

Rooney, who will now be suspended for the home game against Benfica, had looked the most potent of United's attackers which, like until the fit of pique that precipitated his departure, will have been noted by the watching Sven-Goran Eriksson. But his absence left Ruud van Nistelrooy increasingly isolated. It had been a frustrating night anyway for United's attackers, but once Rooney departed their objective was to stop Diego Forlán and co capitalising on their numerical advantage. The manner in which they succeeded pleased Ferguson but, deep down, he will be livid their performance was undermined by a player who needs to take his own advice and grow up.